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ACC Game On: 02.29.12 Edition

Posted by KCarpenter on February 29th, 2012

Duke handily blew out Wake Forest last night, though the score reflects Wake Forest’s desperate and ultimately futile rally rather than the early domination inflicted at the hands of the Blue Devils. Despite the high stakes of this time of the year, this game didn’t change anyone’s fortunes. Tonight, however, there is one game with serious bubble implications as well as a few other prizes on the line.

Duke Held On to Win At Wake Forest Last Night (Herald-Sun)

The Battle of the Bubble

Miami at North Carolina State at 9:00 PM on FSN

Before the Wolfpack’s current four-game losing streak, it looked like NC State had a fairly good chance at getting into the NCAA Tournament. Now, the team stands on the outside looking in with increasingly few chances to get big wins. Miami, on the other hand, looks like they may well be on their way to the Big Dance after handily beating the Seminoles on Sunday. The Wolfpack beat the Hurricanes earlier in the season and if they want to have even an outside chance at Tournament play, they have to win this game. Miami probably has to win this game too, but the mood is definitely a little more tense in Raleigh. With the reinstatement of Reggie Johnson, who sat out against Florida State, the eager Hurricanes will be ready to cope with the athletic talent of NC State. Both teams will have work to do after this game regardless of the outcome, but tonight is a good place to start.

Boston College Might Win!

Georgia Tech at Boston College at 7:00 PM on FSN

Every time Boston College has a shot at a win, I get excited. It’s been a while since I got excited. For those keeping track at home, the Eagles have gone 1-10 in their past 11 games. It’s been bleak, but playing at home against a miserable Georgia Tech team that has no Glen Rice Jr., the Eagles have a fighting chance at scoring their fourth conference win of the year. The Yellow Jackets, going 2-9 in the same span as Boston College’s horrible run, won their first match-up with the Eagles this year, but that game was sadly very close. This game won’t be pretty, but with both teams sitting on 3-11 conference records, it’s an incredibly important game in terms of deciding who is the worst team in the conference.

Extra Credit

Maryland at North Carolina at 7:00 PM on ESPN

Much like Wake Forest against Duke last night, this match-up is mostly about North Carolina not slipping up. Maryland has faltered recently, losing to Georgia Tech on Saturday and generally struggling. Still, the Terrapins played North Carolina close in College Park, and outside of the loss to Georgia Tech, almost all of Maryland’s losses have come at the hands of very good teams (according to Ken Pomeroy, they had the toughest conference schedule in the ACC). This is all a roundabout way of saying that despite a high loss total, Maryland isn’t a terrible team. North Carolina won ugly against Virginia on Saturday, and the play of the team hasn’t come close to even the neighborhood of inspired. If North Carolina doesn’t focus, this is a game that the Tar Heels could lose. Still, it’s Tyler Zeller‘s Senior Day, the Tar Heels are playing in ESPN, and they will be wearing those ubiquitous gray (sorry, “platinum”) uniforms at home. If North Carolina loses, it will be one of the more shocking outcomes of the conference season.

3 responses to “ACC Game On: 02.29.12 Edition”

I don’t think it’s very fair to say Duke handily blew out Wake Forest when the margin was 6 points with 3 minutes to go and all the momentum was on the Wake side. The result of that game could have easily been different.

That’s fair. Wake had a tremendous run, but I feel like Duke’s early dominance decided the game.

In a lot of ways it reminded me of 2008 North Carolina vs. Kansas. Kansas’s early lead made an impressive, but failed comeback all but impossible. People don’t remember how close that game actually got, but rather how fair ahead Kansas was early.